ARRs Currently Available for Faculty Use

DISCLAIMER: These papers are adaptations of original published
peer-reviewed publications and reflect the adapting author's
interpretation of the original. The adaptation should not be
regarded as complete, nor necessarily accurate in all detail. This
adaptation should be used only for educational purposes in
accordance with "fair use" provisions of U.S. copyright law.

Theme Topic:

CANCER, AFLATOXIN

Key words (course relevant): toxicology, biomedicine, plants

Hook to interest students: Africans eat dirt to protect against
moldy corn ... a modern alternative is tested in a clinical
trial

Summary Description of ARR: This is a clinical trial report that
tests an adsorbent that can be taken as a pill to reduce the
absorption of cancer-producing toxins in a mold that grows on grain
and other foodstuffs

Original citation: NovaSil clay
intervention in Ghanaians at high risk for aflatoxicosis: II.
Reduction in biomarkers of aflatoxin exposure in blood and urine.
Food Additives and Contaminants 25(5):622-34

Summary Description of ARR: Four experiments indicated that when
faced with difficult questions, people are primed to look to
computers for the solutions. If they know the information will be
needed in the future and they will have a need for it then, they
are less likely to remember the information, but they will have
better recall of where they can find it.

Summary Description of ARR: The more confident one is about a
misconception, the easier it is for proper feedback to correct it.
Here, they tested the hypothesis that this "hypercorrection effect"
can be demonstrated after a one-week delay after a misconception
was initially corrected.

Summary Description of ARR: Comparison of three note-taking
conditions: encoding only (take notes/no review), encoding plus
storage (take notes/review), and external storage only (borrow
notes/review). Results indicated that best recall occurred in the
condition of encoding plus storage. Performance on ability to
synthesize information was superior for external storage compared
with encoding. In a comparison the various methods of note-taking
technique, a matrix approach was more effective than conventional
note-taking approaches.

Summary Description of ARR: Results indicated a correlation
between GPA and 1) re-reading, 2) self-testing, and 3) scheduling
of study time. Low performers were more likely to study late at
night and compress their learning time rather than spreading it out
and less likely to self-test and re-read.

Original citation: Hartwig, M. K. (2011). Study strategies of
college students: Are self-testing and scheduling related to
achievement? Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.
10.3758/s13423-011-0181-y

Summary Description of ARR: Study of an animal model of the
process by which new learning contributes to development of a more
general schema. The consolidation of new learning occurred rapidly
and was associated with rapid up-regulation of "early genes" in the
prelimbic cortex. Drug treatments that targeted this area could
prevent both new learning and the recall of previously consolidated
information.

Summary Description of ARR: The hypothesis of this study was
that a key part of the response to concussion could be protein
"integrins" that help neurons stick to each other. These methods
revealed that local damage depended on membrane integrins. Damage
could be reduced by treating the neurons with a drug that that
helps make intracellular structural proteins more stable.

Theme Topic:

SLEEP, LEARNING AND MEMORY

Key words (course relevant): psychology, neuroscience,
education

Special content features: neurotransmitters, drugs, memory
processes

Summary Description of ARR: Events are consolidated into memory
during sleep and sleep loss interferes with this process. Here,
they tested whether or not sleep loss could contribute to false
memories. Results showed that false memories were more common at
retrieval after sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation at retrieval,
but not sleep following learning increased false memories of theme
words. The effect could be abolished by administration of caffeine
just prior to retrieval. Since caffeine inhibits adenosine in the
brain, and adenosine is a neurotransmitter, the false memory is
attributed to impaired function of this neurotransmitter
system.

Theme Topic:

Hook to interest students: How do viruses cause autoimmunity and
neurological disease

Summary Description of ARR: This is an animal model study of the
pathogenesis of a viral infection that causes encephalomyelitis
resembling polio and multile sclerosis. The emphasis is on
elucidating the role of the immune system.